NPR

Why The Toxin Trouble With Tiny Turtles Continues

The government is warning people not to handle tiny turtles because of the risk of contracting salmonella. The problem is, it has been warning us for 40 years and we're still getting sick.
Tiny turtles are cute, but they can spread salmonella and make children very sick.

The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles series has been around for decades and has raked in millions of dollars in merchandise. Why? Because turtles are cool.

Warnings about real live turtles giving salmonella to the people who handle them has also been around for decades, but people keep getting sick, and that's not cool.

The Centers on Tuesday, saying a multistate outbreak of s Agbeni suspected of being spread via turtle-human contact has sickened 37 people in 13 states since March. Nearly half of those infected have been hospitalized, which is "a little bit higher than we typically see," says , a CDC veterinarian who investigates these kind of outbreaks.

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